Beliefnet's Most Inspiring Person of 2005--Victoria Ruvolo

How a Long Island woman who showed compassion for her attacker became Beliefnet's Most Inspiring Person of the Year.

We tried something a bit different in choosing this year's Most Inspiring Person. In the past, we had two final selections--one made by Beliefnet's editors and one "people's choice" winner chosen by our readers. This year, the process was collaborative. The community and the editorial team nominated a large field of candidates, editors picked a slate of 12 inspiring people, then through daily votes on the site the readers narrowed down that field to the final three, and the editors made the

The surprise was that, thus empowered, Beliefnet's readers systematically knocked all of the most famous candidates out of the running. Victoria Ruvolo, the Long Island woman who urged a judge to deal leniently with her assailant, got more votes than